Local History & Culture Themes

Each item in the Local History & Culture Collections has been assigned one of twenty-two themes to help users find similar items that would be harder to gather together through the use of a regular topical search. The themes are available on the home and search results pages for both the entire Local History & Culture Collections and for each individual collection.

Select one or more themes

Please note that in the list below, the boldface Topics Covered illustrate key topics, but is not exhaustive. Use the "Subject (Topical)" filter on the search results pages to view and choose narrower topics within a theme. Note also that the links on each topic search the entire Sonoma County Local History & Culture Collections.

• Farms, farming and homesteading
• Crops, fields and orchards,
including hops
• Harvesting
• Dairy and poultry
• Families and children in rural areas
• Commercial fishing

Note: wine-related items entered under: Wine and winemaking

Animals dominate the image.

• House and building architectural
drawings
• Architectural details or focus on
architectural aspects
• Fine arts – paintings, drawings,
prints, and sculpture
• Studio portrait photography
• Theaters, stage companies, motion
pictures, and stage performances
• Musical groups and music
performances

• Main street and central business
districts
• Individual stores and businesses
• Factories
• Power plants

• Streetscapes
• City views and birds-eye views
• Individual buildings, including homes
- architectural aspects
• Historic settlements
- Spanish, Mexican, and Russian
• Everyday life of families and children

• Newspapers and newsletters
• Advertisements
• Diaries and journals
• Letters

• Teachers and students
• Elementary schools and
high schools
• Colleges and universities
• School buildings
• Campus and school grounds
• Libraries, museums, cultural
institutions, and historical societies
• Archaeology and archaeological
excavations

• Forests, beaches, rivers and lakes
• State parks, regional parks, city
parks and trails
• Landscape, and nature photographs
• Dams, flood control channels
and earthworks
• Landfills

• Hospitals, clinics and health resorts
• Doctors and nurses
• Public health issues
• Vaccinations and inoculations

• Workers and employees
• Strikes
• Occupations
(except where covered elsewhere)

• Logging, loggers and sawmills
• Logging trains and mining trains
• Lumber industry
• Mines, mineral industry
and quarries

• Individuals and group portraits
• Reservations, rancherias, villages
and houses
• Clothing and dress

• Soldiers, veterans and
veterans homes
• Political candidates
• Political rallies
• Courthouses
• City, county, state and
federal office buildings
• Military bases

People dominate the image.

• Formal individual and
group portraits
• Informal individual and
group portraits

Individuals recognized for their achievements.

• Luther Burbank
• Jack London
• Charles Schulz
• Levi Leipheimer
• et al.

• Police officers, sheriffs and
state police
• The legal system, judges
and lawyers
• Jails and prisons
• Posses and criminals
• Fire departments
• Paramedics
• Structure fires

• Churches and congregations
• Baptisms, confirmations and
Sunday school
• Weddings and funerals
• Church socials, picnics and
church suppers
• Revivals

• Immigration, and U.S. citizenship
• Civil Rights, LGBTQ issues and
Women's Movement
• WPA and CCC
• Drinking, temperance and
prohibition
• Fraternal and social organizations

• Team and individual sports
• Hobbies and recreation activities
• Parades and carnivals
• Holidays
• County fairs, Sonoma County Fair,
Sonoma-Marin Fair, and
Cloverdale Citrus Fair
• Amusement parks and recreational
resorts

• Airplanes, automobiles, trains,
and streetcars
• Boats used for transportation
(vs. recreation, commercial fishing)
• Horse and buggy, carts, and wagons
• Roads, railroads, bridges,
and airports
• Transportation construction
and infrastructure

• Forest fires
• Earthquakes
• Droughts
• Floods
• Storm damage from windstorms
• Snowstorms

• Wine and winemaking
• Wineries
• Winemakers
• Vineyards